I looked to see if this has been discussed and didn't see anything. How are people tagging TBR books vs Interested books? Obviously you can do it however right but I'm curious what the difference for people is. My TBR is literally thousands soooo I am thinking I will make Interested be like my more immediate reads wants.

i've been wanting to get into mysteries for a while but i've had a problem where most of them just sound...boring to me? i'm not trying to insult the genre or anything but so many that i've come across just have a description like "someone got murdered!! (mc) is on the case!" and that just seems very simple and not engaging to me, but i see that it's such a popular genre and there are so many long series that people are die-hard fans of, so i really wanna get into it.

i think my problem is that i mostly read fantasy so i lean towards the big sweeping stories with drama and magic and action, so i was wondering if anyone had any recs that would be good for someone who is used to fantasy?? i don't need it to be fantasy AND mystery to be clear, tho recs like that are also welcomed!!

I’m on a side quest to read as many advent calendar books this season. I dont know why lol. I currently have:

-A Heart for Christmas by Sophie Jomain (popular but I heard it sucks) -Christmas Eve Love Story by Ginny Baird (also saw this made its rounds) -Whims of the Wicked by Rebecca Grey -25 Days by Per Jacobsen -Xmas Break by J.E. Rowney -Sealed with a Yuletide Kiss by Sophie Barnes (it’s short stories, which I won’t mind)

Any more before I go on? There’s probably more that I don’t know of.

(Edit): might take out Christmas Eve Love Story, I think I’ve overwhelmed myself (esp with exams coming up). I loved hearing all the suggestions tho, maybe next holiday season.

Is it just me, or do you avoid books set in your city?

I was born and raised by Seattle. I don't know why it is, but books set in Washington or Seattle I avoid.

Is there any reason why??? Not really. (Side tangent TV shows or movies set in the state kind of bug me though because it REALLY shows they've never been there EVER Cough Cough Death Note live action (accept Supernatural and X files))

I read Remarkably Bright Creatures recently and it was set in Washington and I enjoyed how the author wrote the city as it's own character. But that was the only book I have read set in my city.

How about you? Or do you enjoy books more if they are setbin your city? Just curiosity plaguing me again.

With Christmas not too far off and me putting aside the books I'm planning to take with me when visiting family, I was reminded of last years holidays which were especially fun because one relative went on and on about how fantasy and sci-fi aren't real literature. This started when another relative gifted me some of Sally Rooney's books so I'd have "something real to read for a change" - they meant it jokingly but it nevertheless started a rant that continued over several days (the entire time we shared a house for the holidays).

I mostly ignored the ranting person, we don't really get along anyways, but we will be sharing a house again this year for a couple of days and I can already feel a continuation of the rant coming and I'm wondering if there's some way to convince them that books written by someone other than Kafka or Murakami can be impactful and that just because something is fantasy or sci-fi doesn't mean it's entirely divorced from reality.

Any of you ever deal with similar situations? How did you handle them? Did you ignore them or argue with them? What arguments did you use?

EDIT: Thanks to all you lovely people! All your kind (and petty) words have reminded me that this person just isn't worth my energy. So while I'll probably try to be nice, I'll most likely just go back to ignoring them and, if that doesn't work, I now have some very fun and petty ideas about what to do next 😄

Also thank you for wishing me nice holidays despite having to be around someone like that. Luckily, they will only be there for a few days and I'll have lots of time before and after to enjoy my holidays - with tons of "bad" books, good food and far better company. I hope you all also have lovely holidays 😘

hi! i just wasn’t sure if anyone knew why there are only four books this winter readalong? my app also shows that to get the sparkly badge you have to read “all 5” but i only see 4. wasn’t sure if it was a bug on my end or not and wanted to ask just to make sure i wasn’t missing anything!

“Once upon a time, the year 2000 to be precise” 😂 loved that opening